Dictionary

tobreak en · VERB

Etymology

From Middle English tobreken (“to break apart, break in pieces, shatter”), from Old English tōbrecan, tebrecan (“to break in pieces, break apart”), from Proto-West Germanic *tebrekan, from Proto-Germanic *tebrekaną (“to break apart”), equivalent to to- (“apart, in pieces”) + break. Cognate with Old Saxon tebrekan (“to break apart”), German Low German tobreken (“to break, shatter, smash”), Middle Dutch tebreken (“to break apart, shatter”), German zerbrechen (“to break apart, shatter, smash”).

Meanings

1. (ambitransitive, obsolete) To break completely; crush.
   • And a certain woman cast a piece of a millstone upon Abimelech's head, and all tobrake his skull. 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Judges 9:53:
2. (ambitransitive, obsolete) To break apart; break in pieces.

Forms

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